Soon, the Palestinian people will be recognized as a sovereign nation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank by most countries. They now have the political and moral momentum toward achieving this goal.
The world owes Palestinians independence and sovereignty for the same reasons it granted the Jews living in British Mandatory Palestine their independent state in 1948, only a few years after six million Jews had been gassed to death in German concentration camps.
This will happen despite an expected U.S. veto next month in the United Nations, and in spite of the political alliance between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump is pragmatic; he will come to support the creation of a Palestinian state, as most Americans already do.
This is because the case for Palestinian independence has been getting clearer and more urgent with every Israeli bombing of mostly innocent Gazans, and with every death from starvation caused by Israel’s withholding of food.
Most countries now recognize a sovereign Palestinian state. In total, 147 members of the United Nations, or 76 percent of its members, have already recognized the Palestinian state. And of the five members with power to reject Palestinian independence, China and Russia are already known supporters. France and the United Kingdom said they will support sovereign Palestine next month before the U.N. votes on the matter. The lone veto is expected from the U.S., but Trump is likely to change his mind.
Ehud Olmert, Israel’s Prime Minister from 2006 to 2009, supports an independent Palestinian state.
A large segment of Israelis already supports the creation of an independent Palestine, though such support has has declined as the war has progressed.
Hundreds of high ranking past members of the Israeli government, the Israeli Parliament, and Israel Defense Forces support Palestinian independence.
And for the first time, Israeli human rights organizations such as B’Tselem, and medical associations are calling on the international community to stop the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians by the Israel’s Defense Forces.
The Arab League of twenty-two Arab nations has called Hamas to disarm and relinquish the Gaza Strip to make peace possible.
According to recent Gallup poll, 55 percent of Americans and 41 percent of Republicans support an independent Palestine. And according to The Times of Israel, President Trump recently said that the destruction, killing, and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza were done by Benjamin Netanyahu to keep him in office. This points to a likely U.S. backing of independence. Furthermore, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) — a ardent Trump supporter — recently characterized Israel’s actions against the Palestinians in the Strip as genocide.
Netanyahu himself is partly responsible for the expected creation of an independent Palestinian state because of his increasingly brutal tactics and strategies against the Palestinians. For example, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s actions have violated the Genocide Convention and issued a warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest.
Israel had worldwide sympathy and empathy when Hamas invaded its territory and savagely murdered 1,200 Israelis. That action led to a declaration of war against Hamas. But the situation has since changed. The war quickly devolved into a war against all Palestinians in the strip. If the strategy were to get rid of them through indiscriminate killing and mass starvation of innocent people, I am not sure what they would be doing differently.
Netanyahu’s failure has led much of the world community to believe that that the war in Gaza is no longer a retaliation against Hamas for the atrocities of October 2023, but rather a war to do away with a whole people.
The world community in the U.N. will soon reject such behavior and vote to grant independence to Palestine. It is about time for the U.S. to join such cause.
Avraham Shama is an award-winning writer, a university professor, and a college of business dean. He fought in Israel’s Six-Day War.
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